If you wondered what it would be like behind the cameras on Gavin and Stacey, here’s a brief overview from Simon ‘Foxy’ Fowler.
Although I’m an actor myself – I’m waiting on another great Welsh comedy to be commissioned, or the finance put together for a feature film of ‘Down the Caravan ‘Life on a Caravan Park’ – it’s an hilarious piece of writing from Kay Lockett starring Matthew Rhys, Julian Lewis Jones, Jan Anderson, Bernard Latham, Maxine Evans and of course my good self.
The BBC having seen Down the Caravan decided not to commission it but to create their own show, Pitching In, but that’s a story for another time.
Back to G&S. Many of us behind the camera have known each other for many years, having worked on a host of various projects over that period of time, but coming back for one more last plunge into the lives of Smithy, Nessa, Uncle Bryn, Gavin and Stacey and all the rest of those fantastic characters had that little extra tingle down the back of our necks.
We all just ‘clicked’, and it went as smoothly as it could possibly have gone. The general public were fantastic, as much as they were excited to see Ruth, James, Rob, Larry, Alison, Matt, Jo and everyone else – they behaved impeccably when required to be quiet and respect the silence needed to film each scene.
And when the cast had some spare time in between takes or after the day was over, they all gave the adoring fans their time for photos and autographs. Ruth never broke character when in her Nessa costume – she was brilliant and everyone really enjoyed her staying as Nessa.
The rest of the cast couldn’t have done more, I think, for the crowds when they had the opportunity, and for that they should be applauded.
It was a very tight three weeks or so shoot and everyone involved worked extremely hard to keep it on track and to schedule.
It would be wonderful if the powers that be could look to possible future episodes of the show but who knows.
Huge thanks to the owners of the properties and businesses we used because without them it would have been a very difficult project to achieve.
It was an enormous honour to play even a very small role in the making of this iconic show and I hope the viewers enjoy the Christmas Special later in the year.
You can follow Simon on Instagram @simonfoxyfowler.
Click here to read Gavin & Stacey’s return to Barry Island.
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